Etihad Airways Enhances Access to South Africa through New Daily Service With South African Airways

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is now able to provide enhanced access to and from South Africa following the launch yesterday of a new daily service between Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi by its codeshare partner, South African Airways (SAA).

A delegation of senior SAA management, South
African government officials and visiting travel trade and media
representatives, was welcomed to Abu Dhabi when flight SA 278 touched down on
schedule at Abu Dhabi International Airport at 8.25pm last night.

The new service has been introduced as part of
an expansion of the strategic partnership agreement between the two airlines,
and complements Etihad Airways’ existing daily service from Abu Dhabi to
Johannesburg, to provide guests with a double-daily service and greater choice
and flexibility whether travelling from Africa, the United Arab Emirates or
beyond.

As a result, South
African Airways’ guests travelling from Africa, can access up to 35 new codeshare destinations, pending
regulatory approval, with connections through the Etihad Airways’ Abu Dhabi hub
to key destinations in the GCC region, Europe, North and South East Asia, the
Indian Subcontinent and Australia.

Etihad Airways’ guests will benefit from enhanced
access to Africa on South African Airways’ new service from Abu Dhabi to
Johannesburg, and subject to
outstanding regulatory approval, onwards to 17
codeshare destinations across South African Airways’ network in Africa.

In addition to the network benefits of the
partnership, the airlines will also work closely together to achieve a range of
synergies where opportunities exist to generate new revenues and drive cost
savings. Examples of this include reciprocity across their respective loyalty
programs, sharing state-of-the-art lounge facilities, and reviewing the
airlines cargo operations, training and procurement.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways' Chief
Commercial Officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome South African Airways to
Abu Dhabi, and are confident that its new service will prove popular with the
increasing numbers of business and leisure travellers that fly between South
Africa and key markets around the world.

“This partnership will enable us to change the
size and shape of our global networks – so that together we can offer more than
1000 city pair connections every week via our respective hubs.

“By working closely together, we can
enhance the benefits provided to our guests who now have greater choice, better
flight connections, access to each other’s premium lounges and more opportunities
to earn and redeem miles when travelling with either airline.”

Nico Bezuidenhout, South African Airways Acting
Chief Executive Officer, said: “The introduction of an SAA frequency between
Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi through our codeshare and extended relationship with
Etihad Airways will not only benefit passengers in terms of greater
connectivity, particularly in the South East Asia region, but also provide
Etihad Airways’ guests with greater access to the African continent through our
extensive African network.”

Tourism plays a vital role for both countries.
Millions of tourists visit South Africa every year, including nearly 300,000
from the Middle East region in 2014.

This new service also taps into the large and
established flows of people and capital investment between South Africa, and
the emerging markets across the Middle East, North and South East Asia and the
Indian subcontinent, generating passenger demand in both directions.

The new South African Airways
service is operated by a two-cabin Airbus A330-200 aircraft, configured to
carry 36 passengers in Business Class and 186 in Economy Class.